Chasing the Sun
by 6AwsumPossum9
Summary: Sun moves to the Alola region to take on the Island Challenge. When he arrives, he gains the attention of a certain Team Skull boss who decides that Sun belongs to him, and him only. Slash. [Guzma x Sun] Everlastingdayshipping.
1. Adventure

**A/N** : Hi there! I really missed writing and so I decided to tackle one of my favorite fandoms since before I was even in school: Pokémon! The pairing for this one is going to be the male protagonist, Sun, and Guzma, the boss of Team Skull. Now, to address the underage issue with Sun, whenever I played Pokémon, I envisioned the character to be me and therefore my age. So I'm going to leave Sun's age up to the reader: he can be whatever age you are as you read this or he can be the canon ten years old if you'd like too. Either way, I hope you like this and enjoy!

I do not own _Pocket Monsters_ or any of the characters. This is completely a work of fiction meant for entertainment.

* * *

"Adventure" - capsule

 _You're alive / You've gotta enjoy it / An adventure to be closer / To who you wish you could be / You're alive / You've gotta fall in love / It's a long way, but I'm on an Adventure / To spend more time with you_

* * *

" _Attention passengers, we will be docking at Melemele's Hau'oli City in approximately twenty minutes! We would like to thank you again…_ "

I rested back in my seat, one of the ones on the top of the ferry near the bow so that I could get a better view of the tremendous Alolan ocean. It was immense and sparkled in various spots as the sun glittered off it. Multiple Wingull flew along the ferry, some speeding up to head off to the large island that was coming into view off in the horizon, skyscrapers visible near the coast. Hau'oli City must be a large city. Back home in Vermillion, there weren't too many tall buildings. It was large, but was more of a cargo port than an actual city. So this was going to be my new home. Okay, it didn't seem too bad. Plus, the trip over to Alola from Kanto had been alright as well. I left Vermillion, taking the S.S. Anne ship to Cianwood in Johto, where it then sailed off to Alola, stopping in Ula'Ula Island. There was a town there called Malie City that surprisingly looked a lot like Johto, making me briefly question if we had just gone in a big circle out in the middle of the ocean. According to the crew, they told me that Malie City was a large tourist attraction for people who lived in the Johto region, so it was only natural that the ship would stop there. I left the S.S. Anne, and boarded a local ferry that would take me to Melemele Island where Professor Kukui lived.

My parents decided that it'd be better to ship me off to Alola to have my pokémon adventure. I was supposed to begin back home in Kanto, and was even looking forward to fulfilling my dream of following in my father's steps to become a gym leader. My dad ran the gym in Vermillion City. It was pretty cool being a gym leader from what I've seen; I remember that on days when I didn't have to go school, Dad would take me to the gym with him to watch the matches. It was nothing short of amazing! I would stay behind the plexiglass covered window and have my eyes go wide as his Raichu unleashed massive thunderbolts on the other pokémon. The sparks would illuminate the area and leave colored spots in my vision afterwards. And once the smoke cleared, ninety-nine percent of the time, the challenger's pokémon was unconscious, laying belly up on the gym floor. "Haha, train up some more and come back later," Dad would always tell the losing trainer, patting them on the shoulder. At an early age, I knew that I wanted to become a gym leader, just like my dad. He specialized in electric-type pokémon, but I knew that I wouldn't just have one type on my team. That way, I'd be a much bigger challenge and harder to defeat. I had begged Mom to let me have my fist pokémon back in Kanto, but she would always shake her head. "You're too young," she'd say. "Just play with Meowth." Don't get me wrong, Meowth's cool and all, but he doesn't like to battle and would rather just lounge out on the sofa all day, watching soaps with Mom. But then Team Rocket came back.

From what I'd heard on the news and out on the street, there was a small cell of ex-grunts in Celadon City who banded together to form New Team Rocket. Due to having experienced two major failures already, they resulted to using much more drastic tactics, such as outright attacking trainers with their pokémon. Plus, they upgraded from Rattata and Zubats to using much stronger pokémon such as Rhydon and Alakazam. With them being growing in strength and number at such a rapid rate, my parents thought it'd be better to send me to Alola where it'd be safer. Shuddering, I rubbed the scars on the back of my neck. The very mention or thought of New Team Rocket brought unwanted memories to mind. My dad had a friend who lived in Alola, Professor Kukui. Apparently, the professor had been a challenger in the past, even defeating Dad and going on to challenge the Indigo League. It was pretty impressive, so Dad didn't even think twice about asking his old colleague if he could look after me while I traveled throughout Alola. Kukui graciously accepted and said he knew a couple who's son had just moved out and that I could stay with them in their house on Route Two before I got my first pokémon. He also mailed over three pictures of the pokémon that I could choose from to be my partner on my journey once I arrived: Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio. Already, I had come to the conclusion that I'd like to start off with the grass-type pokémon, Rowlet.

My stomach growled and I opened up my backpack to grab one of the malasadas that I had purchased on the lower deck. They were having a newcomer special: buy one get one free. So I figured I could have one on the ferry and save the other one to share with Rowlet in order to form a bond with it. I unwrapped it from its paper and took a bite, surprised at how good it tasted. It was almost like a jelly donut, crunchy on the outside, but sweet and fruity on the inside. I kept to myself as I listened in on some of the other passengers' conversations.

"…so then he decided that he would catch a Ledyba. I mean, why? It's a bug-type and everyone knows that bug-type are the weakest out of them all," a girl in front of me said, snorting with disgust at the end of her statement.

Her friend beside her nodded in agreement. "Totally," she said, her face glued down to her lap, probably on a phone. "Like, my boyfriend caught me a Butterfree for Valentine's Day, but I set it free, because how strong can a giant bug be?"

I frowned to myself, a little annoyed at what they were saying. Sure, some pokémon may not be as powerful as others, but they were all still worthy of being loved. At least that's what I believed. And that was why I leaned forward a bit and blurted out, "Actually, there's Aaron in Sinnoh. He's a member of the Elite Four and specializes in bug-type pokémon. I hear he has a Vespiquen who is vicious."

The girls jerked back and looked at me with disgust. "Eww, a bug-type trainer on the Elite Four?" one asked. "I guess Sinnoh doesn't have many strong trainers."

I shrugged. Having never been out of Kanto before, I wasn't able to vouch for Sinnoh trainers. "Well," I said, "my dad has a Galvantula and it's a total powerhouse."

"And who's your dad?" the other sneered, inferring that my dad wasn't an important trainer at all.

"He's a gym leader in Vermillion City."

"Oh," one said, turning back to look at her friend with a "Let's Ditch This Kid" look. Her friend nodded and they left, going over to the stairs that led to the lower deck.

Whatever. I probably should've minded my own business, but I couldn't just keep my mouth shut when I heard them trashing pokémon just because they weren't deemed as desirable. On the other hand, I was glad that they didn't press too hard about my dad who had a Raichu, Magnezone, Electrode, and Electrivire, but no Galvantula. Either way, I was considering having a bug-type on my team in order to balance it out. I heard that they were strong against psychic and dark-types.

"Good on ya, Kid," I heard a deep voice say beside me.

I glanced over to my right and a couple of seats away was a young man who sat all by himself. He leaned back in his chair, kicking his legs up on top of the chair in front of him. He glanced up at the clear sky, his arms folded behind his head that was topped with unruly white hair at the top with a black buzz beneath. He had on yellow sunglasses, but the left lens was cracked in half and his forearms each had a purple tattoo of a cartoonish and tribal-like S. He wore black board shorts that had a chain hanging from them and a white tank top that showed off his beefy arms.

"Oh, thank you," I mumbled, a little uneasy near this guy. He seems pretty big and from what I could see, he appeared to be tall. If we were both standing then I'd bet that he'd tower over me by at least a foot and a half… or even two. I swallowed the piece of malasada that was in my cheek, gulping loudly. "D-do you have any bug pokémon?"

He snorted, amused. "They're my specialty," he grunted, taking his sunglasses off and turning to face me, his gray eyes piercing my core with how hard they looked. The guy had dark bags under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in years. "And if you're really the Vermillion City gym leader's kid, then that would mean that you lied to those girls. 'Cause every strong trainer knows that Surge doesn't have a Galvantula." He smirked, cocking his eyebrow at me.

I bit my lower lip. "I-I just don't think that there's such a thing as a worthless pokémon," I stuttered. "Especially a worthless pokémon type." Some people may argue that Magikarp was useless, but it evolves into Gyarados, which will wreck house in almost any battle it enters.

The guy nodded to himself, his smirk permanent. He stood, stretching his arms above his head, proving my hunch correct. The man was crazy tall, making me feel as if I were a Flabébé by comparison. He must've worked out too or at least done a lot of physical activity because he was also at least twice as wide as me too. He sauntered over to me in an almost intimidating manner: his arms swaggered to and fro and his swung his bulk to the side with each stomp of his feet. Stopping at the seat directly beside me, he threw his body down with a thud, resuming his relaxed pose with legs up and arms folded. Almost immediately, I was assaulted with the strong odor of cheap body spray radiating from the guy. In an odd way, it was almost pleasant the way it mixed with the sea's salty aroma. "You must be a hard-working trainer then," he mused, his eyes sizing me up.

I shook my head. "Um, I'm actually not a trainer," I said. "Yet. I mean, I'm going to be as soon as we dock. The professor on Melemele is going to present me with my first pokémon. I'm going to go with Rowlet." I even held out the picture of the grass-type pokémon that I was going to call my partner in just a few short moments. "Cute, right?" I smiled up at the man who looked down at the picture with scrutinizing eyes.

"Ya know that grass is weak to bug, right?" he asked, clicking his tongue. He reached into his shorts pocket, fishing out an ultraball. "C'mon out." He tossed the ball up in the air and in a flash of white light, there appeared a giant bug-type pokémon that I'd never seen before in my life. It stood several feet tall on two legs and it had multiple sets of grayish-blue arms. It reeked of strength and when it looked over at the man, I saw nothing but respect in its black eyes.

"Whoa," I breathed. "What is that?" I sat up straight in my seat, completely in awe at the new pokémon that stood in my presence.

"Golisopod," the man answered, the pokémon standing at attention, waiting for an order. His smirk grew to a full-on smile of pride. "This tough guy will destroy ya grass-types without hesitation."

I nodded. "True," I admitted, taking in the sheer awesomeness that was Golisopod. "But every pokémon has its weakness."

The man jerked back, his smile faltering into a scowl. Golisopod turned to me, a whimpering noise emitting from its mandibles.

I cleared my throat. "Well, for example," I began, "your Golisopod is bug-type, so I would instruct Rowlet to use flying-type attacks. That would work, unless you had a Shuckle, which is bug and rock-type, or a Scizor which is part steel-type. I would have to change tactics then. For Shuckle, I'd try to use a water-type attack or even a steel-type. As for Scizor, when it comes to steel-types, it's always best to try and use a fire-type." I took a bite of my malasada, thinking over team options as I chewed. "So *swallow*, I would try to keep a diverse team so as to counteract type weakness. It also plays into my notion of no type being better than the other."

The guy beside nodded and Golisopod scurried closer to me, his head bowing down closer to my malasada. He took a couple sniffs and with a mighty roar, snatched it out of my hands with one of its giant claws, scarfing the pastry in a matter of seconds. I jerked my hands back into my chest out of reflex despite not coming into skin contact with the pokémon.

"Dude!" the guy scolded. He gave Golisopod a look and held out his ultraball, returning the pokémon to it with a red light. He then turned to me, biting his lower lip. "Yeah… 'bout that. We, uh, haven't eaten in a while so I guess it's my bad."

I shook my head. Food was food. I was honestly just glad that I still had both of my hands. "It's cool," I said, unzipping my backpack. I grabbed the other malasada and held it out to the guy. "They had a two for one deal, but I'm kinda full. Want it?"

The guy scrunched his face and sneered for a moment.

I hoped that he didn't think I was trying to use him as some charity case, so I quickly added, "I hate to waste food, and I'm full so I don't wanna throw it away. You'd be doing me a favor."

"Well when ya put it that way…" He grabbed the malasada and unwrapped it, keeping a careful eye on me. It seemed as if he were expecting me to shout "Psych!" He took a small nibble and the corners of his mouth pulled up and a little reddish color came to his face. He then tore the pastry in half, keeping one for himself and shoving the other back at me. "Here." We ate in silence, the sounds of the waves crashing against the ferry filling the space between us. Every now and then, the man's side would brush up against me as we were swayed by the rocking waves. And each and every time, the guy's face would turn red and he'd mutter, "My bad" or "Okay…" And by the time we jostled against each other for perhaps the hundredth time, he chuckled to himself. "Might as well sit in my lap with how much we're bumping against each other."

I laughed. "Yeah, we just met, though," I teased.

He nervously chuckled back, the redness taking completely over his entire face. "So, uh, why Alola?" he asked, trying to make small talk.

"I'm starting my pokémon journey," I beamed, my excitement taking over. I literally had my hands balled and was jumping up and down in my seat as I told the guy my pokémon trainer plan. "The professor is going to meet me at the docks and give me my first pokémon and then he's going to take me to this house where I'll stay for a day or two and then it's out on my own. My parents chose Alola because they said it'd be safer than Kanto with New Team Rocket and everything going on back there."

He nodded. "Yeah, heard about them." He clicked his tongue again, glancing down at me. "And who ya stayin' with? I probably know 'em since Melemele's a small island."

"You know what? I actually don't know their names," I laughed. Professor Kukui never mentioned them in any of his letters, so I was a little confused on who I was exactly going to be staying with. "But I do know that they live out on Route Two. It's a married couple who have a son, but the professor said that he moved out."

"He ran away," the guy said, clenching his lower jaw. He flexed his fingers and the redness grew in his face, but it concentrated itself around his cheeks.

"Oh, you know them?" I asked. Hopefully he knew their names and would clue me in so that I wouldn't make a fool of myself.

"We're here," he said instead.

I glanced up, a little shocked to see that we pulling up to a dock that was in front of a huge city. Hau'oli was said to be the largest city in Alola, rivaling that of Saffron back home. It was immense and bustling with people and pokémon going about their daily lives. My body was trembling with excitement now. It was official: as soon as I got off the ferry, I'd begin my new life as a pokémon trainer. Yay! Wow, talking to the guy beside me really helped to pass the time.

The guy stood up, crossing his arms in front of his massive chest. "Hey, Kid, look," he grunted.

I glanced up and smiled back. "Yeah," I cheered, "it was great talking to you too. Hopefully we'll run into each other and can battle once I get a team together." I stood and gathered up my stuff, holding out my hand for him to shake. "I'm Sun, by the way."

"Sun, eh?" he asked, looking up at the sky, squinting. "Makes sense." He then turned back down to me, taking my small hand in his beefy one. He radiated heat and his rough, calloused hands further contrasted to my smooth and dainty ones. "Listen though, keep in mind that in a pinch, Rowlet's move leafage can seriously mess up a foe."

"Okay?"

He cleared his throat. "And, um, the couple on Route Two are kinda out there. So leave as soon as ya can, got it?" He narrowed his gaze and his grip on my hand tightened. "If the old man gives ya any trouble, shout out for Guzma."

I yanked my throbbing hand away, holding it up to my chest. "What's a Guzma?" I asked.

He smirked. "That's me," he said. "I'm ya boy Guzma."

Okay… That was a weird introduction. "Um, nice to meet you, Guzma," I mumbled.

Guzma turned to head towards the stairs to go to the lower deck. "You too, Sun," he said, winking back at me, making my jaw drop. Did he just wink at me? Why would he do that? "I'll see ya soon." Then he disappeared down the steps.

— — —

Everything was going my way! As soon as I got off the ferry into Hau'oli City, I was greeted by Professor Kukui and his assistant Lillie who had a secret pokémon in a bag that she had around her shoulder (emphasis on secret, apparently). The professor was child-like and fun-loving, eager to give me my first pokémon. I chose Rowlet, immediately letting him out of his pokéball, ready to spend some fun times with my brand new pokémon. Plus, Kukui even gave me a PokéDex to use so that I could gather information on any pokémon that I ran into in the wild. The neat thing about Alola's Dex was that it had the ghost and electric-type pokémon, Rotom, living in it.

"…make sure you catch lots of Alolan pokémon, woo!" Kukui called out as he made his way over to Iki Town to do some field work. "Rotom, look after him!"

" _Zzrt! Roger that Professor!_ " Room replied, floating by my side. He then turned to me as we made our way through Hau'oli City, wading through the crowds of tourists. It was packed and the crazy amount people and the large sun made a small sweat break out on my forehead. I briefly took a quick look around, but caught no sight of that Guzma guy that I had met on the ferry. Darn, even if he got a little weird by winking at me. " _Sun! I registered Rowlet's data if you'd like to check it out. I recommend reading up on your partnerz so you can utilize their powers more effectively._ "

"Oh, thank you, Rotom," I said, not used to having a living PokéDex. Rowlet hooted from atop my left shoulder. I figured that he might've felt cooped up in his pokéball, so why not let him roam free with me? Besides, I'm willing to bet that every trainer out there would rather have their pokémon walk with them from outside their ball.

" _Don't mention it! Zzrt! It'z what I was programmed to do!_ "

Pretty soon, we were stopped by Lillie and Nebby, the latter moving around energetically in the duffel bag.

"Oh! Nebby!" Lille scolded, gently patting on the bag in a poor effort to calm the excited pokémon. "You need to be quiet or else someone will see you." She then looked up and smiled shyly. "Hey Sun. This here is the Pokémon School." She gestured beyond the gates that she was standing in front of, showing off a large three story building that had an immense tennis court in front of it. A handful of students were seen playing around on the grounds, some of them battling one another and others just enjoying the tropical weather that was typically experienced in Alola. "The Professor thought it'd be a good idea for you to study here for a little bit so that you could learn some useful information as a pokémon trainer."

Rowlet yawned.

Eh… I looked up at the school, my stomach turning in knots. I hated school before I was a trainer, so why on earth would I want to go now? "Um, I'm good, thanks," I muttered.

"Huh?" Lillie asked, confused. She shook her head, her blonde hair dancing about her under that obscenely large hat. "Um, Sun, I think the Professor really wants you to—"

"I don't wanna sound like a snob, but I grew up around gym leaders who taught me how to catch pokémon and how to battle, what more do I need to know?" I asked.

" _Zrrt! That'z right, no more tutorials!_ " Rotom interjected.

Lillie put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips. "Oh, honestly, Sun! How do you expect to get better as a trainer if you refuse to go to school?"

"Can you just go and I'll copy your notes?" I whined, my shoulders drooping at the thought of having to go to class. I was too eager to start my pokémon adventure and the thought of having to sit in a desk as a teacher droned on and on made me nauseous.

"Pew!" Nebby said, hopping out the bag and floating towards the school.

" _Zrrt! Nebby says 'Sure thing, Sun!''_ " Rotom translated, flashing a smiley face on his screen.

Lillie stomped her feet and turned around to follow Nebby. "Fine!" she grumbled. "But I'm not taking a test for you if there's one. And look for Team Skull." She made her way, angrily, muttering to herself the entire way to the school.

" _Zrrt! You made the right choice,_ " Rotom said. " _Who needs to know the circumference of a Voltorb? I can answer any questions you may have, Sun._ " He flashed a picture of a thumb's up.

"Totally," I agreed, skipping further into town. The whole Team Skull warning that Lillie had given me stuck in my head. The rational part of me said that she was just trying to get back at me by scaring me with intangible threats. However, I had seen the destruction caused by New Team Rocket first hand. There was this one time they blew up a red truck on the Vermillion docks with a zap cannon from an Ampharos. It was cool at first, but once the flaming debris began to crash down into the scared masses, it was terrifying. The last thing I wanted was to run into any kind of gang. Therefore, I decided that if Team Skull wasn't just a figment of Lillie's imagination, I would avoid them at all costs and not have anything to do with a single member. Ever.

* * *

 **A/N** : So, yeah, there's the first chapter. I don't have an updating schedule pinned down since I'm busy with personal stuff, but I will do everything in my power to finish this because, I mean, c'mon: Guzma! He's so my husbando.


	2. Warning Call

"Warning Call" - CHVRCHES

 _I hear it / Echoing of every place that we've called our home / And I don't talk / Of any time I ever believed in the unknown / I need it_

* * *

"Rowlet! Use astonish!" I shouted, pointing forward to add dramatic effect. We had managed to get to Route Two fairly quickly with the help of some friendly locals who were more than willing to point us in the right direction. We must've been traveling down the forest trail for a few short hours when we ran into a Growlithe, who would become an excellent addition to my team. A fire-type would add better type coverage for when I got the hang of battling other trainers. I had beaten Hau with ease back in Hau'oli, but that was because he had a Popplio so I had the advantage with Rowlet.

Rowlet swooped low to attack the wild Growlithe, lashing out with his sharp talons. The Growlithe cried out as it was hit, being flung back into a small tree with a hard thud. Now it was my chance to catch it!

I yanked an empty pokéball from my backpack, chucking it at the passed out pokémon that was sprawled out on the forest floor. The Growlithe disappeared inside with a red light, and the ball jiggled back and forth for a little bit. I held my breath in anticipation, leaning in closer to watch the center button for confirmation of a successful capture.

The center clicked and the pokéball stopped moving.

" _Zrrt! You caught Growlithe!_ " Rotom cheered. " _Great job, Sun!_ "

"Yay!" I yelled out in triumph. "Thanks Rowlet for your help!"

Rowlet hooted in delight and flew up to perch himself back on my left shoulder, which was quickly becoming his favorite spot.

"C'mon out, Growlithe," I said, holding out the pokéball, deciding that I'd be the kind of trainer who lets their pokémon roam outside of their balls.

The ball opened and in a flash of white light, Growlithe jumped out and landed on the soft grass, woofing and wagging his tail up at us. "Woof!"

" _Zrrt! He says that it's nice to meet you_ ," Rotom translated. I was glad that Rotom spoke both pokémon-language and English. It would be way easier to understand my pokémon and help them out better with whatever they are wanting at the moment. " _Growlithe, zrrt, evolves when it comes into contact with a fire stone, which are on Akala Island. He evolves into Arcanine and will learn the move Extremespeed which is always guaranteed to hit first. Super cool!_ "

Awesome, so that left me with both a grass and a fire-type on my team. Considering that I officially started my pokémon journey just a few hours ago, I'd say that I was making significant progress. Kukui earlier had informed me that Alola doesn't do the traditional gym challenge that I had witnessed back in Kanto. Instead, people do the island challenge, in which the they travel all over the islands of Alola and perform challenges set by a trial captain. Once they complete the seven challenges, they re-battle the island kahunas and become an island champion. Odd, but the idea of experiencing something completely foreign was a bit exciting. On the other hand, my mind kept wandering back to Lillie's cryptic warning about Team Skull. If they were anything like New Team Rocket, then perhaps Alola wasn't as safe as my parents had painted it out to be. I shivered and placed a ginger hand on the back of my neck, feeling the scars that marred it but were hidden by my hair.

Back in Vermillion City, New Team Rocket had attacked one day, wanting to intercept an import of ultra balls from the Kalos Pokéball Factory. As soon as the cargo ship docked, there was an explosion near the pier. Dozens of people and pokémon fled in fear, creating total chaos. I had been out in town, walking home from school when all the commotion began. I'd dropped my backpack and sprinted in the direction of the Vermillion Gym because it was a lot closer to me than my house; plus, I figured that it'd be a whole lot safer there with Dad and the gym trainers. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough and was soon swallowed up by the rushing crowd of panicked people. New Team Rocket, being the vicious and bloodthirsty anarchists that they are, unleashed some of their fiercest pokémon into the crowd. A Donphan began to rollout in the scared masses, trampling some while sending others flying off in the distance. Electrode were released and began self-destructing, blowing buildings and those within them up into bits. It was utter and sheer chaos and destruction unlike anything I'd ever seen in real life. I'd seen action movies that had people running down the street in fear from some kind of maniacal enemy, but I had believed that that belonged in the cinema only. Yet, there I was, running in the crowd, getting shoved as I struggled to remain on my feet, the gym only a short block away. I can't remember the exact moment due to the fact that my brain was already struggling to process what was happening around me, so literally I was seeing the gym in my view and in an instant I was looking at the sky, then the ground, the sky, ground… An Arbok had sunk its fangs into the back of my neck, thrashing its head around, making me move as if I were a rag doll. The poison began to set in, making my vision grow black and my muscles begin to ache. Eventually, I had stopped struggling and I felt the Arbok coil its long, purple body around me, beginning to squeeze with all its might. "Raichu! Thunderbolt!" I felt a jolt of electricity rip through my body at a painful speed. My skin burned and I screamed out in terror and fear, but the Arbok loosed its deathgrip on me, slithering off. I had blacked out, and had woken up four days later in a hospital in Saffron. The doctor had told me that the poison had entered my bloodstream and I had almost died. It took multiple Blissey eggs to build my strength back up, which worked after a couple days (and they even made me a little more upbeat, I thought). It was when I was lying in the hospital bed, hooked up to machines, a Chansey checking my vitals and an Alakazam using Psychic on my veins to ensure that there was no residual poison in them, that my parents told me about their plan to ship me off to Alola where it would be safe. I had immediately agreed.

Thus, the idea of there being a gang of pokémon outlaws in Alola terrified me. Even worse: I was all by myself. I smiled over at Rotom, Growlithe, and Rowlet. Sure, I was with my pokémon and PokéDex, but it wasn't the same as having another person by my side. Back in Kanto, I had planned on having my journey with a couple of friends at school, and the idea was exciting. However, I was now having my adventure all by myself. It definitely would have put my mind at ease regarding Team Skull if I was traveling with someone. Shoot, even if I were traveling with that Guzma guy from the ferry. He may have had a tough façade and all, but I bet that he had a nice personality and would have made an awesome companion. Plus, he looked like he could kick the ass of any Team Skull thug that came along.

However, Team Skull quickly began to be the least of my worries as the tropical sun began to set and the forest grew darker, the shadows growing larger with each passing second. "Uh, Rotom, are there any ghost-type pokémon out here?" I asked, shaking a bit due to the dropping temperature and my nerves.

" _Zrrt! Definitely_ ," he said. " _In fact, we are close to Hau'oli Cemetery where a lot of them like to congregate._ "

Oh crap. "W-well, why don't we pick up the pace then, huh?" I moved to a near sprint, pumping my arms in order to keep up pace. Rowlet flew ahead and Growlithe had an easy time staying by my side, his tongue lolling out of his mouth as he ran. It didn't take long for us to come up to a house that rested on the edge of the forest. It seemed out of place, especially considering that Hau'oli City was at least a half-day's trek. Shrugging to myself, I deduced that this must've been the house that Kukui intended for me to stay at for the night. I'd planned on only staying here for one night, and then I'd go on my journey, resting in motels for the rest of the way. Before I had left Kanto, my dad gave me a couple hundred dollars, and then I could get more money in pokémon battles. Therefore, paying for motels wouldn't be too hard. Plus, I really wasn't looking forward to camping out in the wilderness without a shower or electricity. I love nature, but I also like civilization. And on a side note, why would I sleep outside with Team Skull out there?

I walked up to the front door and rang the doorbell. It didn't take too long for a man and woman who appeared like they were in their early fifties or late forties to answer. The man eyed me up and down and Rowlet trembled on my shoulder. "Yeah?" he grunted.

I loudly swallowed and flexed my fingers. "Um, I'm Sun from Kanto," I introduced myself. "Professor Kukui told me—"

"Oh!" the woman interjected, perking up. "You're the one that Kukui was talking about. Well, why don't you come in before the Drifloon come out." She gently pushed her husband to the side and swung open the door for me.

"Thank you," I breathed, thankful that I had the right house and that at least the wife had a welcoming attitude to counteract her husband's cold demeanor. I held out my pokéballs to return Rowlet and Growlithe.

"Oh, Deary, there's no need for that," she said, waving her hand. "This is a pokémon friendly house. Besides, you wouldn't believe the pokémon that my son used to bring home." She ushered us inside her home, leading us into the living room which was OCD-clean. There wasn't a speck of dust to be seen, the TV screen was neatly polished, and the bookshelf was neatly organized in alphabetical order with each book spine perfectly erect. "He'd bring home Caterpies, Ledybas, Surskits, and his favorite, Wimpod." She chuckled and turned to her husband who was sitting in a rocking chair, face glued to some program on the TV. "Honey, do you remember when our boy brought Wimpod over for the first time? Poor guy was so scared of everything, he wouldn't leave my son's room." The wife spoke of her son's shenanigans with such fondness, all the while earning sneers from the husband. It was kind of uncomfortable. Maybe this was what Guzma had mentioned earlier about these people being out there.

"Worthless kid…" the husband grumbled.

The wife didn't hear him. She turned to me, a smile still on her face. "Why don't you put your stuff in the room," she suggested. "I just made soup. It'll be in the kitchen when you're ready."

"Thank you," I said.

" _Zrrt! Thanks for your hospitality!_ " Rotom said.

I walked towards the back of the house and into a room that was filled with stale air. There was a thick coat of dust covering nearly everything in the room, making a stark contrast from the rest of the immaculate home. I turned on the light and marveled at how many trophies there were in front of the window. "Wow," I said, dropping my backpack on the floor and walking over to them. Each one was dusted over and had some cobwebs on them. I picked one up, reading the small inscription on it: _Pokémon Double Battles, First Place_. All of them were for first place in several forms of pokémon battling. The son must've been a really strong trainer if he had so many trophies. "Hey, Rotom. Do you know who the son is here?" I asked, curious if he knew a little more about the people of Alola as well as the pokémon.

" _Zrrt! Was he a pokémon?_ " he asked, plugging himself into an outlet that was by the cluttered desk.

I shook my head. "I don't think so." Rowlet perched himself on one of the bedposts and Growlithe had jumped up on the bed, circling around before lying down on the gray comforter.

" _Hmm, perhapz he'z the Champion!_ " Rotom gasped, a picture of a lightbulb flashing on his screen. " _The Professor told me that he was establishing a Pokémon League here in Alola, so maybe the son is the Champion if he has so many trophiez._ "

Makes sense. How cool would it be if I were staying in the room of the Alolan Champion? "Were any of you coming out for soup?" I asked my resting teammates.

" _Zrrt! We think that there'z something off about that guy out there, so no_ ," Rotom said. " _But by all means, have fun!_ " He shut down and lied down on a bunch of papers that were on the desk.

Well, I guess that they did have a point. Nevertheless, I made my way out of the room and into the kitchen where the wife was ladling some soup out into bowls. She looked up at me and smiled. "So, Sun," she said, "you must be excited to take on your first trial, right?"

I nodded. "Yeah, the trails are different from what I've experienced back home, but they sound fun." I sat down at the table and was served my soup. I took a sip of it after blowing on it; it was actually pretty good. "Thank you."

"Sure thing," she beamed. She sat down at the table too, the husband still in the living room. "So, the first trial is in Verdant Cavern. The captain is Ilima and it focuses on normal-type pokémon, so make sure you know a fighting-type move."

I bit my lower lip. Rowlet and Growlithe didn't know a fighting-type move, so I would have to either catch another pokémon, or train them up so that I could boost some of their stats. The wife seemed to know a lot about pokémon battling in Alola, so perhaps her son inherited her skills. That brought my attention back to the trophies that were in the room. "If you don't mind me asking," I said, "where is your son? He must be really far in his pokémon journey by now." I leaned forward in my seat, eager to hear if I was staying in the house that belonged to the Champion.

The wife shook her head and her smile faltered for a brief second. "Oh, he moved out a few years ago," she said, her eyes darting over to the living room. "He'd already taken the island challenge and beat it, but couldn't become a captain like he had wanted to. So now he does, um, other things."

Oh, so he wasn't the Champion…

"Damn brat ran away," the husband growled as he walked into the kitchen to grab a bowl of soup. "And he fucked up all my golf clubs, too."

The wife bit her lower lip and stared down at her bowl in front of her. Obviously the son was a sore subject for them, so I decided to change the topic of conversation. "So… um, when I got off the ferry, I heard about a group of people called Team Skull," I said. "Do you guys know anything about them?"

The wife shoved herself away from the table. "I'm going to bed," she groaned as she scurried out of the kitchen.

I cocked my eyebrow and looked over at the husband in confusion.

He huffed and lumbered over to the table, sitting down where his wife had previously sat. "Team Skull is a gang of rebellious kids led by a lousy scumbag who never went anywhere in life," he snarled, spitting when he mentioned the boss. "They vandalize stores, rob people, and steal pokémon all for the sake of anarchy. There's no point to it at all. Makes no damn sense at all."

I nodded to myself, rubbing my hand on the scars on my neck. "So they're dangerous?" I asked. The way the husband spoke of them made it sound as if Team Skull was more of a nuisance than a threat.

He sharply exhaled. "Yeah, you could say that," he muttered. "The grunts are useless, but that boss." He shook his head with disgust. "That boss needs a good ass-kicking. You'll stay away from them at all costs if you know what's good for you."

The rest of dinner was spent in awkward silence. I kept my eyes glued to my bowl of soup in front of me. When I was finished, I washed my dishes and scurried off into the bedroom, locking the door behind me. Rowlet and Growlithe were fast asleep and Rotom was still charging himself. I stripped to my boxer briefs and undershirt, jumping into the bed with an exaggerated sigh of relief at being able to lie down after a long day of walking through the forest. The bed smelt of cheap body spray, almost as if the son had bathed in the stuff. It was faint enough thanks to time so that it wasn't so overbearing and was actually a little nice. I buried my nose into the pillow taking a big whiff of the stuff that had hints of ocean air. Perhaps the son had a water-type pokémon on his team. The aroma was soothing and I felt all my apprehension about Team Skull and the husband disappear in an instant. It was almost as if the scent of the son's bed was made for me, made to comfort me and protect me from all my worries.

I chuckled at my corny thoughts and closed my eyes, ready to fall asleep and eager to start my first trial the next day.

— — —

"Hooo! Hooo!" Rowlet called out, pecking sharply at my head.

"Wha-?" I wondered, struggling to gather my senses as I sat up in the bed that belonged to the son of the couple who were generous enough to let me stay over. I glanced around the room which was pitch black as it was still nighttime out.

Growlithe sat up and unleashed a low growl, his hair standing up on his back. His gaze was directed towards the window.

"What's wrong, guys?" I asked them, leaning forward to look outside the window, but it was no use. It was too dark outside and I couldn't see anything expect for my faint reflection in the glass.

" _Zrrt! Rowlet said he saw a guy outside and Growlithe said he can hear the husband talking to someone_ ," Rotom said. He turned to Growlithe, who stopping growling and had his ears perked up. " _What are they talking about?_ "

Growlithe's ears twitched and he was silent. Even Rowlet stopped pecking me and cocked his head to the side, holding out his ear. "Woof!" Growlithe barked.

" _That's it?_ "

"Woof!"

" _Zrrt! He sayz the guy is threatening the husband_ ," Rotom answered.

"What?" I panicked, desperately thinking up a way I could try to help the husband out. Guzma had mentioned that Rowlet's leafage would be good in a pinch. I could ask Growlithe to use ember so that he could light the leaves on fire, making them like a horde of flaming arrows to attack the intruder.

Growlithe made a confused noise, cocking his head to the side.

" _Really?_ " Rotom asked him. " _Weird! Zrrt!_ "

"What's wrong?" I whimpered, trying to see out the dark window, but it still proved unsuccessful.

" _Zrrt! Growlithe said that the man was threatening the husband if he hurtz you_ ," Rotom said, a question mark flashing on his screen.

"Woof! Growlithe!"

" _He said 'If you lay a finger on Sun, I will personally kill you as painfully and slowly as possible.' Who could it be?_ "

What the hell? I was at a loss for words. I virtually knew nobody in Alola, so who on earth would be threatening someone they hurt me? I struggled to come up with someone, but was unable to think up a face. I crouched back down in the bed, pulling the covers up to my nose, shaking a little with fear as I strained my ears to hear the conversation going on, but my hearing was as strong as Growlithe's so my attempts proved futile. All I could do was lie in the son's bed, trying to calm myself down. It was the first night on my own, so it was only natural that I'd be a little scared. It was kind of nice to know that whoever was outside didn't want any harm to come to me, but did that mean that the husband did? Foolishly, I took another whiff of the sea salty aroma of the son's pillow, thinking that it'd help calm my nerves. It actually did take the edge off a little bit.

The rational side of my brain told me to just ignore it and leave early in the morning when I was well rested. However, the scared shitless part of me shrieked at me that I had to get out of this house as soon as possible.

Growlithe made a small whimper and glanced over at me and then to Rotom, tilting his head.

Rotom's screen flashed a picture of a large green flying-type pokémon. " _Zrrt! Xatu_ ," he said, seemingly answering a question that Growlithe had asked, " _the Mystic Pokémon. Legend says that its left eye sees the past while its right sees the future._ "

I perked up. I've heard about Xatu. They were common in the Johto region and many trainers often consulted them when they had questions about important life-decisions because the pokémon could see the future and then show the trainer the answer telepathically. Plus, they were a popular attraction at carnivals. "Is there a Xatu outside?" I asked. Man, I wish I could talk to pokémon, then I wouldn't feel so left in the dark.

Growlithe raised his snout, sniffing the air before shaking his head. "Woof!"

" _He sayz that the person outside mentioned a Xatu from a long time ago and the husband left to come back inside afterwardz._ "

"So is the guy gone from outside?" I wondered, my heartbeat finally beginning to slow down.

Growlithe nodded and I crashed back onto the bed, relieved.

"Rotom, can you set an alarm for hella early in the morning so we can book it as soon as the sun's up?" I asked.

" _Zrrt! I'm not an alarm clock_ ," Rotom frowned.

"Hoot! Hoot!" Rowlet called out, flapping his wings.

" _He said that he'll do it because he'z nocturnal_."

"Thank you, Rowlet," I said, patting him on the head, his feathers feeling more like wood chips than actual feathers. I closed my eyes and attempted to fall asleep, but my mind had so many questions that it was almost impossible. Eventually, I managed to get some rest, but it seemed like I blinked and then Rowlet was pecking at my head, waking me up because the sun was starting to rise.

"Hoot!" He called out, even beating on my face with his wings.

"I'm up," I groaned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Growlithe was still out and Rotom was off, still charging himself. I crawled out of the bed and went to the bathroom to shower and get ready to bounce. I had planned on just leaving a thank you note for the couple that way I could just get out of their hair without any awkwardness, but as soon as I left the bathroom, towel around my waist, I overheard the husband talking to someone out in the living room.

"…he's in the bedroom, go see for ya self," he growled, stomping his feet towards what I assumed was the couch.

"Fine, but if there's one hair outta place, I'ma beat the shit outta ya," said another guy who had a rough-sounding voice that was oddly familiar. Perhaps this was the guy who was arguing with the husband outside last night! I strained my ears, but didn't hear anymore talking.

To my surprise, Guzma (why was he here?) rounded the corner and was going to make his way down the hall when he caught me standing there, wet from my shower with a towel around my waist. He froze, his dark eyes wide and cheeks turning red. "Uhh…" he mumbled. He spun around in his heels. "Get dressed and meet me outside."

"O-okay!" I called out to him as he sauntered away. The front door slammed shut and I rushed into the bedroom to put some clothes on. I hurriedly dressed, waking up my team as I rushed about the room. As I was slipping my shoes on, I spotted a dusty can of body spray on the desk that was probably left over from the son. Granted he wore way too much as evident through its lingering presence in the room, it still smelt kinda good. I couldn't resist, and without a moment's hesitation, I squirted a little bit of the body spray on myself and shoved the can in my backpack to use later on my journey. It smelt pretty good on me since I used a small dose. My pokémon and I rushed out the room, pausing to see the husband in the rocking chair reading the newspaper.

He glanced up from the paper at me, scowling. "Good luck," he grumbled.

"Thank you for your hospitality," I said, bowing.

"Yeah, yeah," he scoffed. "Just be careful around that guy. He's no good, ya hear?"

"Uh, sure." I scurried out of the house and ran into Guzma who was waiting in the front yard, his hands in the pockets of his cut-off sweats. This time he wore a black, short-sleeve jacket over his tank and had a large gold chain on. The amulet on it looked like a cartoonish skull that was meant to look like of like an S at the same time. Neat, I guess.

Guzma looked up at me, smirking and bobbing his head forward to acknowledge my presence. "So, long time no see, eh?" he smirked.

"Yeah," I said, a little confused as to why he was here. "How'd you find me?"

" _Zrrt! And why?_ " Rotom interjected, totally asking another question that I had in the back of my mind. Guzma was a nice guy, I guess. But I had only known him for, like, thirty minutes on the ferry. Therefore, why would he feel compelled to come seek me out on Route Two?

The redness deepened on Guzma's face and he kicked at the ground. "Well, Route Two ain't that big," he said. "And I figured you'd be startin' your trials today, right?"

I nodded. Growlithe began to growl and the hair on his back began to stand up as he bared his teeth. "Growlithe!" I scolded, holding up his pokéball, returning him. I turned back to Guzma, a sheepish look on my face. "I'm sorry! We didn't sleep too well last night—"

"That guy give ya a hard time?" Guzma asked, referring to the husband. "Want me to talk to him?" He puffed out his chest, attempting to look bigger and therefore more intimidating. It worked. If I hadn't known him a little bit, I would've been scared shitless; even though I was familiar with him on a small level, my heart sped up and my palms grew sweaty under his glare.

"No! No!" I hurried, worried that I might've accidentally put a hit out on the husband. "It's just that Growlithe said that he heard some people outside talking and it kinda spooked us."

Guzma pursed his lips and nodded in thought, crossing his arms over his beefy chest. "Well," he said, his voice slow and calculating, "good job on catching another pokémon, first off."

"Thank you."

"And second, the trials here have totem pokémon, which are tons stronger than ya standard 'mon that you'll find out in the wild, so ya need to train. And as Alola's strongest trainer, I'm here to help ya." He held his arms out as if he were displaying goods at a store.

"You're the Champion?" I asked incredulously. This was so cool! I knew the Alolan Champion! I jumped away from the house and ran up to Guzma, eager for my first lesson. It was awesome that the actual Champion was going to help me train my pokémon for my island journey.

"Um, no, Alola doesn't have a Champion yet," he said, shrugging. "But I ain't never lost a battle."

It must be because of Golisopod. That thing was a monster! "Cool!" I cheered. "Thank you so much! I didn't really know what to expect from my island journey because back home they have gyms, but Kukui told me that wan't the case here." I was practically jumping all over the guy like a star-struck teen fangirl. From an outsider's perspective, I must've looked downright pathetic. But becoming a gym leader has been my dream ever since I was a toddler, so being in the presence of a man who could train me to achieve that goal was gush-worthy.

At the mention of the professor, Guzma rolled his dark eyes. "Yeah, well, why don't we get a start on that training then." He put his massive hand on the small of my back and led me down the trail that led further into the forest of Route Two.

"Hoo…" Rowlet growled, pecking at Guzma's arm that was attached to me.

"Shit!" Guzma cried out, yanking back and glaring at my pokémon who glared back.

"Rowlet!" I scolded. "That wasn't nice, Guzma's a friend of ours. Now, apologize." I crossed my arms and looked at Rowlet expectantly.

Rowlet, without moving his lower body, swiveled his head to glance between me and Guzma, the latter scowling and holding his hand to his body. Rowlet turned up his head at Guzma and turned his back on him with an exaggerated huff.

My face burned with embarrassment. Why were my pokémon being rude to someone who said that they were going to help us on our island journey? "I'm sorry, Guzma," I began, throwing my hands up in exasperation.

"Don't sweat it," he said. "Dude here just wants to protect ya, I can respect that." He crouched down on his legs, holding out a large hand to Rowlet. "Hey Man, I won't hurt Sun. You have my word I won't let any harm come to him." He looked at me at that last part, his gray eyes locking onto mine. "I promise."

A shiver went down my spine. That guy sure was intense and set me on edge for some odd reason. Sure, I was grateful to have his help, but there was something a little off about him that I couldn't quite pinpoint. Dad had raised me to always be on my toes, and while I believed that to a certain degree his attitude stemmed from his time in war, he was the tiniest bit right. On the other hand, Mom preached that people were inherently good and thus it was okay to trust others. It may be my mom's blood in me, the massive amounts of Blissey eggs that I had to eat in the hospital in Kanto, or even just my own naïveté, but I made a mental note to just go along with Guzma. He didn't seem dangerous to me. Plus, it appeared that Rowlet had my back just in case things went south.

Rowlet looked down at his talons for a moment before turning around to shake Guzma's hand with one of his wings. "Hoot."

" _Zrrt! He sayz that he'll kick your ass if you break your promise_ ," Rotom translated, making my face grow scarlet by now.

Luckily, Guzma chuckled. "I like your guts, Man," he said, shaking Rowlet's wing. "It's a deal." He stood back up and led us further down the path, this time keeping his hands to himself. I hadn't seen anything wrong with it before. He was just being friendly and leading us to our destination. Apparently, Rowlet didn't like it and now my lower back felt oddly cold without Guzma's hand there. Weird.

"Hoot!" Rowlet cheered as he hopped back onto my shoulder.

" _That'z right!_ " Rotom said. He floated closer to Guzma and looked up at him. " _Mr. Guzma, can you protect us from Team Skull? Zrrt! Sun waz afraid of them all last night!_ "

I flinched and wanted so badly to bury myself into a hole. "I was not!" I lied, not wanting to look like a wimp in from of the pseudo-Alolan Champion. There'd be no way he'd want to train with us if he thought I was more cowardly than a Wimpod.

Guzma seemed to flinch as well. He rubbed the back of his neck and he blushed. "Um, sure," he mumbled. "I'll keep an eye out for 'em." He glanced back at me, looking me up and down, biting his lower lip.

Rotom flashed a thumb's up on his screen. " _Zrrt! Thank you Mr. Guzma!_ " he exclaimed. " _Now we don't have to worry about pokémon thieves on our adventure!_ "

"Yeah," I breathed, embarrassed, but still a little relieved that Guzma would protect us from the dreaded Team Skull. "Thank you." I patted the back of his shoulder graciously.

He nodded and set his jaw. "Mm-hm," he hummed. "Just stay close and I'll keep ya safe."

"Okay," I agreed, quickening my pace so that we were walking side by side. I even scooted a little closer, Guzma's swinging hand brushing up against mine every now and then, so perhaps I was too close. I stepped a little further away to the side so as not to invade his personal space.

Guzma frowned to himself, but led us onward to go on some awesome training expedition. This was awesome! I had made a friend in Alola! I wasn't technically traveling by myself anymore. I was finally on my pokémon adventure! And Guzma was going to help us out if we ever crossed paths with Team Skull! I could get used to traveling with him.


	3. Angsty

"Angsty" - Best Coast

 _I wanna stay with you / But I can't / Because I gotta go to work / It's overwhelming how much I hate everything / But you_

* * *

"So totem pokémon have crazy defenses, so ya wanna get your attack stats up," Guzma explained, grabbing a fallen branch off the forest floor. It was about as thick as his forearms and as tall as me. He held it away from his body, positioning the branch so that it was parallel to the ground. "You wanna beat 'em down good, so… Rowlet!"

Rowlet looked up from the dandelion it was blowing on to pay attention to Guzma's lesson. "Hoo?" he asked, cocking his head.

I stifled a laugh, covering my mouth so that Guzma wouldn't see me giggling at my pokémon's rudeness. It was kinda funny and reminded me of myself whenever I was in math class back in Kanto. I never quite payed attention in school, and would instead daydream of pokémon battles and what I'd call my gym badge that I'd hand out to victors. I still haven't decided on a name.

Guzma ground his teeth and strained his arms so that his veins popped out over the muscles. He was ripped, not overly so, but he definitely reeked of masculinity. "Rowlet, I want ya to use peck on this stick here until it breaks. Then I'll find another one and you'll do the same. Sun." He turned to look at me. "I want you to time him. The point of this exercise being to try and get a shorter time with every stick. Got it?"

Rowlet roared with power and thrust himself forward at the branch in Guzma's grasp. His beak collided with it with a loud smack, but there was barely a dent in it. "Hoo?" Rowlet wondered, eyeing the branch over, looking for the tiniest crack before pecking at it again.

" _Zrrt! Rowlet asked if you found petrified wood on accident, Mr. Guzma_ ," Rotom said.

"Yeah, we're gonna need to train a lot more," Guzma grunted. "Sun, why don't you let out Growlithe? I got another exercise for him to work on."

"Are you sure?" I asked, a little apprehensive due to the way Growlithe had snarled at Guzma earlier at the house on Route Two. It had looked like Growlithe was ready to lunge and attack before I recalled him into his pokéball. I trust Growlithe and know that he wouldn't hurt someone without a good reason, but I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to control him that well. I mean, Growlithe has only been a tame pokémon for less than twenty-four hours, so I wasn't quite sure how well he'd listen to me.

"I can handle your pup," Guzma said. I could've sworn that he flexed his muscles to look a little bigger, but it could've just been him straining his arms to keep them straight as Rowlet pecked at the branch in his grip. Poor Rowlet had managed to make a little ding so far and he was already panting.

"Come on out, Growlithe," I called, releasing him.

He landed on the grass and looked up at me, awaiting directions. "Woof!" he happily barked, wagging his fluffy tail.

"Growlithe," I said, lowering my voice to show that I meant business, "I want you to be nice to Guzma and do as he says, please. He's a good friend of mine and is going to help train us so that we can beat Ilima's trial."

Growlithe let out a low whimper before glancing back at Guzma, snorting embers out of his snout in frustration. He gingerly shuffled his paws over to Guzma and sat down in front of him, ready to listen.

"Growlithe," Guzma said, "I want you to run throughout the trees in a serpentine motion. Try to move as fast as ya can, but don't disturb any of the plants. This should help your speed and evasiveness."

Wow, Guzma sure was smart when it came to training pokémon. "Did you already beat your island challenge?" I asked. Growlithe was already running throughout the trees, dashing through the bushes, making leaves fly in all directions.

"Yeah," Guzma grunted, curtly nodding. "A long time ago, I beat all the trials, got all the z-crystals." The way he spoke about completing his island challenge made it seem as though he couldn't care less. His dark eyes stayed glued on the brach that Rowlet was working on and his face was like a stone, with no emotion whatsoever. "What are ya gonna do when you finish yours?"

I beamed with pride, eager to share my lifelong goal with this guy. "I'm going to become a gym leader," I stated. "When I was little, my dad would take me to the Vermillion Gym to watch the matches and it was awesome! So I'm going to establish a gym, maybe in Unova or Johto; but the thing is that I'm not going to focus on just one type. I'm going to be a multi-type gym leader, that way I can be more of a challenge. And then I read this article in _PokéNerd Monthly_ that was talking about Mega Evolution and how it was being utilized in Kalos and Hoenn. So I thought, how cool would it be if my ace used Mega Evolution? But I don't think that Decidueye or Arcanine have a Mega, so I'll need to grow my team so more…" I babbled on, visibly excited that I had my dream within reach and all mapped out. Guzma remained stone-faced as he listened intently to me. His gray eyes were locked on me, wincing a bit when I mentioned relocating to another region. "…but then Hau was telling me about these z-moves that are here in the Alola region. So, perhaps it'd be smarter to have one pokémon use a z-crystal and another use Mega Evolution. What do you think?"

"You really have everything all planned out, don't ya?" Guzma mused, raising his dark eyebrows.

I nodded, smiling wide. "Yeah," I said. "What did you want to do before completing your trials?"

He snorted, turning back to look at the branch in his hands, Rowlet about half-way through. "That's not important," he grunted. "Ya know that Kukui, for some reason, is establishin' a League here, so it's only a matter of time before Alola builds gyms."

"Really?" I asked. I knew that Professor Kukui was creating a Pokémon League in Alola, but I didn't connect the dots earlier. "So I could be one of the first Alolan gym leaders then?" Wow, that was a title to be proud of.

He chuckled, the left side of his mouth pulling up into a semi-smirk, semi-smile. Huh, that was the biggest I've seen that guy smile. "Yeah, I mean, I'm kinda in charge of Po Town back in Ula'ula Island, so I could have it so you can establish a gym there," he shrugged, trying to gauge my reaction from the corner of his eye.

Rowlet spilt the branch in half, falling face-forward on the grass with a huff. "Hoot…" he groaned, covering his head in shame with one of his wings.

"It's all good, Bro," Guzma said, patting him on the back. "Ya just need a little practice." He smiled down at him and cooed gentle phrases, trying to get Rowlet to perk himself back up. It worked and Rowlet jumped up, popping his neck in preparation for his next branch. "Good job!"

Something odd happened inside my stomach. It felt like I was nauseous, but I didn't have that characteristic bile rising up in my throat. The other way to describe it was that I was excited, yet it was different form than the one that I experienced while talking about my pokémon goal. This was… some kind of new feeling that I wasn't used to. And for some odd reason, I liked it. My limbs tingled and my head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, making me feel almost at ease and relaxed. And there was a nagging voice in the back of my skull that told me that it was all Guzma's fault.

"Whaddya say, Sun?" Guzma asked, jerking me out of my moment.

"W-what?" I stuttered, trying to shake myself out of whatever funk I was in.

"You should make your gym at Po Town."

Oh yeah! "Are you the mayor?" I asked.

"Uh, sure?" Guzma bit his lower lip and looked away, searching for another branch for Rowlet to break in half.

"Well, yeah, that'd be great!" I cheered. "Thank you, Guzma. I have no idea how I can ever repay you for what you're doing for me." Seriously, I haven't known Guzma personally for too long and already he was helping me train my pokémon and helping me establish a gym. He was totally becoming one of my good friends.

"Just think it over when I ask you something later today," he said.

"Can't you ask me now?" I asked, hating to wait. What could it be? Maybe he was a trial captain, or even a kahuna. Or maybe he was a gym leader himself! I jumped in place and eagerly looked at him, desperate to find out what it was. Yeah, I'm pretty impatient.

Guzma chuckled. "No, ya gotta wait," he smirked and looked down, picking at the small blades of grass. "Or, I guess I could ask now." He stood and walked over to me, slowly and calculating. "Well, uh, Sun, I just wanted to start by saying that I kinda admire your…uh." Guzma's face turned red and he rubbed the back of his neck, his undershirt riding up as he did so, showing off his lower abs. Damn. "Um, I guess I kinda think it's cute how you—"

"Woof!" Growlithe called out, running up to us. He paused at me feet, sitting down and letting out a whimper.

" _Zrrt! He sayz he's thristy,_ " Rotom translated.

Guzma scowled, crossing his arms. "Ya got any water?" he asked me quickly.

"Um, I think so," I mumbled, unzipping my backpack and searching threw my stuff. There was my town map, some potions, a revive Hau had given me, and a water bottle. I yanked the bottle out, frowning when I realized that it was empty. "Um, oops." I blushed at my rookie mistake. How could I go on an awesome pokémon adventure and not pack any water?

"There's a river nearby," Guzma grunted, snatching the empty water bottle from my hand and stalking off into the forest.

I hurried behind him, struggling to keep up. His legs were significantly longer than mine so his long strides were covering much more ground than I was. It didn't take long for us to reach a large river that was on the edge of the forest, overlooking the ocean down below. The sun glittered off the water and the foliage was bright green. The songs of Pikipek rang out, making the area seem more like a scene out of a romance movie than real life. "Wow," I breathed as I took in the scenery.

"Yeah, I used to come here a lot as kid," Guzma said, filling up my water bottle at the stream. "S'nice place when ya wanna be alone."

I looked around, seeing no sign of any other person whatsoever. "I thought you were from Ula'ula," I wondered aloud.

He nodded, screwing the cap back on the bottle. "I was born and raised here on Melemele, but I live on Ula'ula. I'm just here runnin' an errand," he said. "It's nicer there, though. Like I mentioned earlier, Po Town's there. You'd like it."

"I can't wait to see it," I said. "Is there a trial there, too?"

He shook his head. "Nope."

Growlithe and Rowlet caught up and both began to lap up water from the estuary, quenching their thirst. Growlithe took a moment to pause and pant for a little bit.

"Yeah, it is rather hot here," Guzma said, dropping his sweatshirt to the ground and yanking his tank top off over his head. Oh hot damn! Guzma was chiseled and the epitome of muscular. He had the perfectly defined pecs and cobblestone abs that I could grate cheese on. There was a sparse sprinkling of hair on him and he just radiated the word "Man". I had to close my jaw and turn my head to avoid staring too long and obviously. He noticed my internal struggle to not ogle and chuckled. "You can look if ya want."

"Um, thanks?" I turned back around, but kept my face directed at my shoes as I lazily kicked a pebble into the dirt. "So, uh, what did you want to ask me earlier?"

"Look at me," he ordered, using a tough voice that had a gentle slivering to it.

I obeyed and watched as Guzma saunter over to me, his bulk swaying side to side as he made his way over. He stopped when he was just a couple of inches away, and I took a mental note that if I leaned forward and stuck out my tongue, I would touch the lower base of his pecs. Huh, that is useful information in a way.

"I wanted to say, that you kinda remind me of myself back in the day, ya know?" Guzma said, reaching forward, placing each of his large hands on either side of my waist. As he held me there, his arms flexed, showing off how crazy huge his biceps were. Why would he want to hide those guns under his sweatshirt? "I was all full of light, like you are now. That's why I like your name, Sun. It suits ya, 'cause you're like a solar beam in this dark world. So I wanted to ask—"

" _Zrrt! Look, Sun, there's a Luvdisc in the water!_ " Rotom shouted, floating in the small space between Guzma and me. I glanced past Guzma's bulk to see a pink figure swimming playfully in the clear water. After squinting, the Luvdisc was made out as it picked at the nutrients at the bottom of the river.

"Whoa! No way!" I called, dashing over to the river's edge to get a closer look. The heart-shaped pokémon spotted us and swam up to the surface, poking its head out and smiling up.

"Luv!" it chirped.

" _Luvdisc is the Rendezvous Pokémon_ ," Rotom said. " _Hordes of them will turn a section of the ocean pink during breeding season. Some legends say that they only appear to those who in love. This one says 'Hi! You guys are in for the long haul!'_ "

"Yeah, we are," I agreed, eagerly nodding. "We're going to complete the island challenge and establish a gym in Alola. We'll be on a pokémon adventure for life." It was awesome to gain confirmation of our journey from a pokémon that was able to detect love. It must've been able to pick up on my love for my new adventure. Wow, instincts can be enlightening.

The Luvdisc frowned and shook its head. "Luvdisc, luv."

" _Zrrt! It says that you're oblivious._ "

"Huh?"

The Luvdisc winked and swam off further down the river. What did it mean when it called me oblivious? I looked back at Guzma, who had his fists clenched and ground his teeth.

"You okay?" I asked him, making my way back over to him. "Did you see the Luvdisc? There's this story that my mom used to tell me back when I was young." He looked up, expectantly, cocking his eyebrow. "Seeing the Luvdisc reminded me of it. But anyways, she said that whenever two people see the Luvdisc, then their relationship blossoms even further and usually to the next level. Cool, right? So you know what that means, right?"

Guzma's smile returned and his hands made a comeback to my waist, pulling me in closer to him. "I'm pretty sure I do," he grinned, leaning forward.

"Yeah, it means that now we're best friends!" I cheered. This was awesome! I was now going to be best friends with the virtual Champion of Alola who was going to help me train my pokémon and set up a gym, too. Plus, the Luvdisc had mentioned that we were in for the long haul, so that meant that this friendship would last forever, which was good. Rowlet and Growlithe seemed to be warming up to Guzma, and therefore, it'd be easier to go on more excursions.

Guzma pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh Arceus dammit," he spat. "Do you remember what I was saying before the fish?"

"Yeah, you said I was a solar beam in the dark," I recalled. "Thanks by the way. I try to be cheery and then part of it comes from eating tons of Blissey eggs. The doctor said a side-effect was that they'd make me _really_ happy a lot."

He jerked back, letting go of his nose. "What?" he asked. "Why would ya wanna eat Blissey eggs?"

" _Zrrt! Blissey is the Happiness Pokémon. Its said that whenever it shares one of its eggs with someone, that person becomes pleasant and that they find happiness immediately afterwards. I met one one time back when I waz wild. I got hurt by a Haunter and a Blissey came and nursed me back to health. Nice pokémon, they are,_ " Rotom said, flashing a thumb's up on his screen.

Guzma glared at Rotom, narrowing his eyes at him. "Anyways," he sneered, "I was mentioning that you kinda remind me of myself when I was a rookie. I was all cheery and excited too, had big dreams of becomin' a captain." He set his jaw for a second and then relaxed, drooping his shoulders, but maintaining his hold on me. "I guess, what I'm gettin' at is I find ya to be nice to be around. Like, you make me…" He pursed his lips, that redness coming back to his face. "You make me feel happy. So I wanted to ask if you'd be—"

"Yo! Yo! Yo! What do we got o'er here?" came a voice from behind the forest line.

"Son of a bitch!" Guzma shouted, grabbing at his white hair in frustration.

Out from the behind the trees came three people, two boys and a girl. The guys were wearing the exact same outfit, making them look like they were twins. They had on black sweats and black tank tops. They also wore bandanas over the lower parts of their faces that had a skull pattern printed on it. The girl was taller than them and had long pink and yellow hair that was in pigtails. She stood in the middle and made her way over to us, eyeing Guzma and me with a look of shock at first before a smirk curved her lips.

"Well, well," she mused. "So this is where the Boss has been." She put her hands on her hips. "Y'know we've been looking all over you, right? We have to find the girl for the Prez." She looked at me, running her eyes up and down my trembling form before looking back over at Guzma, who sneered on back. He puffed out his chest and pushed me behind him, blocking me from the view of the three strangers. "So this is him?"

"Plumeria," he snarled, "I called ya after I got off the ferry, yeah? And what did I say?"

The girl, Plumeria, rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you said you had something important come up," she scoffed. "While that's cute and all, the Prez has been getting all on my case about her precious Cosmog that kid stole. She's seriously giving me a headache, so deal with her!"

Rowlet and Growlithe ran up behind me, hiding behind my legs as they watched what was unfolding.

One of the guys noticed them and jerked back. "Yo!" he said, pointing at us. "That guy's got some pokémon with him. Hand 'em over!" He threw out a pokéball, letting out a Zubat. "Zubat! Use your poison fang—"

With a roar, Guzma lurched forward, throwing out his ultra ball to let out Golisopod, who crashed onto the forest floor with a battlecry. "Razor shell!" Golisopod curled in on itself, lunging at the Zubat at a high speed. It crashed into the much smaller pokémon, sending it flying back at the feet of the shocked grunt. The Zubat let out an air of exhaustion, failing to get back up. Damn, that Golisopod was super strong, being able to take out other pokémon with a single move.

"Wha—?" the grunt gasped.

Plumeria scoffed. "So I take it you want me to spread the word?" she asked, rolling her eyes again. She seemed to be really over what was happening.

All the while, my brain struggled to comprehend what was going on. Guzma and I were just talking before this Plumeria and her cronies showed up. However, they seemed to know Guzma and knowing him somehow involved stealing pokémon, including mine. Wait a minute… "Team Skull?" I whispered to Rotom who was floating by my shoulder.

" _Zrrt! I think so_ ," he whimpered, lowering himself so that he was behind me too. I'm so glad that I have such brave pokémon on my team who will protect me from danger.

"So listen up, Kids," Plumeria said, turning to the grunts. "This guy's off limits, so leave him alone. Tell the others."

"But why?" one of them asked. "Why is he so special?" He nodded at me in disgust, eyes twitching as they ran over my trembling form.

My mind was racing at speeds faster than a Dragonite. The situation thrusted at me was too confusing to comprehend, but there was a nagging voice in the back of my mind that screamed for me to get out of there. It only made sense that the strangers in front of us belonged to Team Skull. Their clothes and the way they mentioned a stolen pokémon seemed to be dead giveaways. However, there was also the way they approached Guzma and spoke to him like he was in charge of them, even referring to him as "Boss". Oh Arceus, no, please. Hesitantly, I glanced up at Guzma, who stared back at Plumeria and the grunts, eyes narrowed and fists clenched. Golisopod came over to us and made a noise in front of Guzma, leaning down so his trainer could pet his head. Meanwhile, Rowlet and Growlithe were shaking behind my legs, filled to the brim with the same anxiety that I was. Rotom made beeping noises from his hiding spot, trying to analyze what was going on and hopefully thinking up a way for us to escape.

But my mind kept returning to Guzma, the man who shielded me and protected my pokémon from the Team Skull thugs. "Because," he said, answering the grunt in a deep voice full of authority, "he's mine. And you don't fuck with what's mine, got it?"

"Y-yes Boss!" the grunts stammered in unison, Plumeria rolling her eyes again.

"Well, this has been fun," she spat, "but, Guzma, the President is seriously becoming a pain in my ass. I don't trust her." She crossed her arms and clenched her jaw in frustration, matching Guzma's hard stare. Plumeria must be a tough trainer if she wasn't intimidated by Guzma, his domineering attitude, his insane musculature, or his crazy strong pokémon.

"Now's not the time, Plums," Guzma said, turning around and placing a gentle, warm hand on the small of my back. It was baffling how a man could convey such raw, fierce power one moment and then be all cute and soft the next. My head hurt with all the confusion it was dealing with.

"Guzma?" I whimpered, looking up at him and rubbing the irritated scar on the back of my neck, the thoughts and terror of New Team Rocket fresh in my memory. I had to know if Guzma was somehow involved with the people in front of us, had to know if he was dangerous. Despite what my subconscious told me, I had to hear it from his mouth. I didn't want him to be evil. He was supposed to be a good person; he was the man who was going to help me out on my island trial, the one who was training and getting along with my pokémon, the one who saw the Luvdisc with me. He wasn't meant to be a villain. "A-are you with Team Skull?"

Rotom stopped beeping, wanting to hear his answer too.

I stared up at the man before me, desperate to hear him deny it, to say that there was no way he'd align himself with a bunch of pokémon-stealing thugs who were up to no good. Guzma looked down at my face, his gray eyes looking deeply into mine, biting his lip and turning red. Quickly, he pursed his lips and looked away. "And if I am?" he growled, refusing to meet my gaze anymore. He dropped his hand from my back and crossed his arms.

I shook my head. "You didn't answer me," I wheezed. "I just— just need to hear, 'yes' or 'no'. Please, Guzma." My eyes stung with fear and I could feel my throat grow dry at the notion of my best friend in the region being the leader of a criminal gang. Yeah, I may have known him for less than twenty-four hours total, but I could still the attachment forming to him a little bit. But I couldn't have my pokémon journey with a bad guy.

"And I s'pose if I say 'yes' then you'd want nothin' to do with me?" he sneered.

Plumeria ushered the grunts back into the forest to give us our privacy, stopping for a second to look at Guzma in pity. She scrunched her eyebrows and bowed her head before disappearing behind the tree line.

" _Zrrt! You're damn straight!_ " Rotom answered, floating a little further away from Guzma as he spoke.

Guzma was helping us out, I reminded myself. He was virtually taking care of me and my pokémon. He wasn't evil, it was impossible. "I know you can't be a part of them," I breathed, letting my arms drop to my sides in sad exhaustion. "You're a good guy, Guzma." A part of me felt as if I were attempting to convince myself more than Guzma in a poor, pathetic way.

He snorted and turned his head to glance at me out the corner of his eye. "No," he chuckled, "no, I'm not a good guy, Sun. You're lookin' at the founder and leader of Team Skull."

My breath hitched and I could hear Rowlet and Growlithe gasp in surprise.

Guzma faced me and nodded to himself. "That's right, Sun. The guy who you've been hangin' with is the big bad boss of Team Skull. The guy who beats you down, and down, and never lets up. It's ya boy Guzma."

" _Zrrt! I knew it! A pokémon's intuition is never wrong!_ " Rotom yelled. " _Sun! We need to run!_ "

My heart sped up and a cold sweat broke out on my forehead. I could feel my legs tremble and prep themselves to bolt. It was absurd. I had felt safe and happy with Guzma just a few moments ago, but now I wanted to get as far away from him as possible. Golisopod was standing next to him, his massive claws gleaming in the sun. He could deal way more damage to me than an Arbok, without a doubt. But before I left, there was something I needed to know, otherwise it'd bug me to no end later on.

"You never asked me that question," I reminded him, trying to muster up false courage, but my shaking form and glistening eyes totally betrayed me.

Guzma jerked back in surprise and cocked his eyebrow. "Yeah?" he asked. "You wanna know?"

I nodded.

He stepped forward, but stopped when I took a step back. He scowled and huffed. "Well, Sun, I think I already know your answer, but I was gonna ask if you'd be mine." His shoulders drooped and he held his hands out for a brief moment before letting them fall. "That's all I want, for you to be mine." He slowly nodded and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. Golisopod nuzzled him and whimpered.

"Why?" I blurted, forgetting that I was in the presence of a Team Skull boss for a second. What could it possibly be that Guzma sees in me? I'm just some gym leader's kid from Kanto who is noob when it comes to pokémon training. Despite his preference in profession, he was a pretty nice guy to be around.

"Gee thanks," he snorted. "Sure I may be the leader of Team Skull, which scares you for some reason. But keep in mind that just a few secs ago, you were all too eager to train with me and stuff." He pointed an accusatory finger at me, his arm muscles flexing with anger. "I made you feel comfortable and safe earlier, ya can't deny that. And ya know that I can provide for you since I have the hookup in Po Town, and can make anything happen for you there. Think about it."

"No," I said, shaking my head. "I mean, why me?"

Guzma's pissed expression fell and he looked down at his feet, kicking at the dirt. "Oh," he muttered. He straightened back up and fast-walked over to me, grabbing a strong hold onto my shoulders.

" _He'z gonna kill Sun! Call Officer Jenny!_ " Rotom cried. Growlithe began to snarl and Rowlet hid his face behind his wings.

Guzma bared his teeth at them, making their noises stop immediately. "I won't hurt Sun, ever!" he roared, glaring at them. He turned back to me, pushing his face closer to mine so that his hot breath moved over my features. "You're my sunlight in this shitty world, and that's why I want you all to myself."

Huh? Was I hearing this guy correctly? First off, I was just Sun from Kanto: no one special and no one even remotely attractive. I was perhaps a three on a scale from one to ten, while Guzma (and I'd never admit it to his face) was a fifteen. He could totally have anyone that he wanted, so why me? Like, how terrible was his life that I was the sunlight in it? And then my subconscious wouldn't shut up over the fact that he was the boss of Team Skull, despite how cool he was to be around earlier. It felt almost as if that euphoria that he had given had been completely whited out with the new information of his extracurricular activities. Plus, there was that whole choice of words that he was using with me: "be mine". Last time I checked, ownership over another human being counted as slavery. However, that probably wasn't what he had intended in that statement, but it raised red flags that shouted out exactly what type of lover Guzma would be. He'd be the domineering man who would totally own me in bed, shoving my face into the pillow while he went to town and just had his way with me… Uh, anyways, he gave off the impression that he could be a little too possessive for my flavor, and there was the fact that I was a rookie in that department too. I've never dated anyone before, and having the boss of Team Skull as my first everything wasn't exactly the fairy tale love life that I'd envisioned.

I couldn't do it. Sure, Guzma had never done anything personally to me, but he was the leader of a gang who terrorized the Alola region. I couldn't align myself with something like that.

"I'm sorry, Guzma," I croaked out, half feeling bad at rejecting this guy and half scared that I was rejecting a member of Team Skull.

Guzma frowned for a brief moment before regaining his composure, putting back on an icy stare that conveyed absolutely nothing. "Fine then," he spat, pushing himself away from me, his arms recoiled as if I were toxic. He turned to walk off, Golisopod looking at me and whimpering. "Just know this, Sun."

"What?" I asked.

He looked over his shoulder, smirking. "Ya boy Guzma don't give up easily," he laughed. "I'll leave ya to think about that for now, but remember that I'll be out here keepin' an eye on ya."

" _Zrrt! Creeper alert!_ " Rotom called out.

Guzma shrugged. "Call it whatcha want. But either way, Sun, your gonna be mine before ya finish that island challenge, I can assure ya." He faced forward and walked off towards the forest, Golisopod following behind.

I was left alone with Rotom and my pokémon, wondering just what in the world went on.


	4. Was It a Dream?

**A/N: Sorry about the delay! Life gets in the way sometimes, but I do fully intend on finishing this. I at least wanted to get this chapter out before Friday when _Ultra Sun_ and _Ultra Moon_ come out! I'm so excited and I knew that this had to continue because of a certain spoiler/rumor I heard regarding Guzma and the player in the post-game.**

 **And Rainbow Team Rocket? How awesome is that?**

* * *

"Was It a Dream?" - 30 Seconds to Mars

 _Your defenses were on high / Your walls built deep inside / Yeah, I'm a selfish bastard / But at least I'm not alone_

* * *

"…and for defeating my trial, I present you with the normalium-z," Ilima smiled, handing over the clear gem to me. Even though I had completed his trial and defeated his Totem Gumshoos on my first try, he still held himself in an air of dignity and self-respect. I hoped that when I became a gym leader, I'd be able to convey that sense of confidence even when beaten too.

"Thank you!" I cheered, looking over the crystal as I held it up towards the sunlight to get a better look. It sparkled and had a small pattern engraved in it. "So with this I'll be able to use the normal z-power, right?"

Ilima nodded. "Yes, just make sure that your pokémon knows a corresponding move of the same type in order to utilize its power." He looked over at the exhausted Rowlet who was sitting down and panting after his tough battle with the Gumshoos. It had come close, but luckily, Rowlet was faster than the totem pokémon, and he had boosted up his attack stat thanks to Guzma's training. But I'll keep that last part to myself. "Given that your Rowlet and Growlithe don't yet know a normal-type move, you'll have to find another pokémon to use the normalium-z on."

I frowned. "Oh, okay." I knew that I was going to grow my team some more, but I hadn't really given much more thought as to what pokémon to add to it. Melemele had some interesting pokémon in it, but I also had three more islands to explore and didn't want to fill up every slot just yet. I had initially planned on just catching up six to fill up my available slots without the need of using a PC just because I didn't want any of my pokémon to grow bored sitting in storage. Just the thought made me feel a little guilty.

"I recommend taking the scenic route back to Iki Town to take on Hala, the Kahuna of Melemele. Since I'm the only captain on the island, you can go battle him now. Or if you're in a hurry, just take a shortcut through Hau'oli Cemetery," Ilima said. "You go on ahead. I promised Hau that he could go after you, but I think he's still at the Pokémon Center."

"Thanks again!" I said, waving as I made my way back down the path that I had previously taken, deciding not to take the scenic route. I figured that the sooner I got back to Hau'Oli City, the better. The way I rationalized it was that Guzma had mentioned earlier today that he would keep an eye on me as I went about my travels. I flinched as I recalled what he had told me. Of course I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I was attracted to Guzma on a physical level, but I wasn't able to ignore the fact that he was the boss of the dreaded Team Skull. He was a gang leader who asked me to be his and when I refused, he said that'd be watching me and that I'd be his before the end of my island challenge. Logic dictated that since Team Skull was feared across the region, then the face of it (i.e. Guzma) would be recognizable…with the exception of the ferry for some reason. But anyways, I figured that if I stayed in populated areas, then Guzma would be less likely to make an appearance. It made sense in my head.

" _Zrrt! Good job, Sun!_ " Rotom cheered. " _And we can find lotz of ghost-type pokémon at the cemetery, too!_ "

"Yeah!" I called out, running down the path with Rowlet and Growlithe in tow. It didn't take too long to reach Hau'Oli Cemetery. I remember passing it up on my way to Verdant Cavern, but was in too much of a hurry to get my first trial done that I decided to skip it for the time being. Now it was later in the day and the sun was beginning to set, so that meant that all the ghost-type pokémon would be coming up, so I could add some to my team.

We ran passed the gates and entered the cemetery, finding it completely deserted with no one, human or pokémon, around. There were scattered gray tombstones about and a dead tree off to the side, but other than that, there was nothing to be seen.

" _Zrrt! Darn it! Perhaps the ghosts will come back later?_ " Rotom suggested.

I shrugged, looking up at the darkening sky. "I guess so," I muttered. "Hey, do you remember seeing a motel on the way here?"

" _Nope._ "

Damn it. "I guess we'll have to sleep outside then," I frowned, a chill traveling down my spine at the thought of spending the night in a cemetery. Sure it didn't sound like the smartest idea, but it beat being out on the open path where I could get mugged or have Guzma run into me. The good thing about the cemetery was that it was completely surrounded by trees to block it off from view from travelers. Therefore, if Guzma truly was lurking out there somewhere, then he wouldn't be able to see me if I camped out there. It was genius.

I snapped some low branches off of a nearby tree and assembled them on the ground and asked Growlithe to use ember on them to start a campfire so that I could stay warm in the dropping temperature. After we snacked on chips that I had bought at the PMC, I rolled out my sleeping bag that I had brought with me, slipping off my socks and shoes before I climbed inside. The nighttime had taken over and the sky was filled with stars.

"There's so many stars out," I mused, lying on my back so that I could gaze up at them in awe. "I've never seen this many." The Alolan sky gave off the illusion that someone had spilt an entire container of glitter up in the air, all the tiny pieces sparkling as they stayed up there.

" _Zrrt! Thanks to Alola's low light pollution, you can see more of the night sky_ ," Rotom said, setting himself down on a nearby patch of grass. " _I once saw a Deoxys in Poni, no lie_."

Growlithe curled up beside my sleeping bag and Rowlet perched himself up in a nearby tree. The air was still and there was no sound to be heard anywhere. The only light available was from the campfire and from the large half moon that hung in the sky among the millions of stars. It was completely peaceful.

" _Zrrt! Hey Sun?_ " Rotom asked.

"Hmm?" I answered, turning over to look at him. He was still lying down in the grass, his screen's brightness lowered to conserve battery power.

" _Why'd you say 'no' to Mr. Guzma?_ " he questioned. " _Zrrt! I think you made the right choice, but did you do it because he'z a bad guy or becuz you don't like him?_ "

I bit my lower lip. "Rotom, he's the leader of Team Skull, and we're out on an island challenge. We're not compatible."

" _So if he wasn't on Team Skull, then you would've said 'yez'?_ "

I didn't answer, mainly because I didn't know. At first, Guzma was a cool guy who was going to accompany me on my pokémon journey, but after finding out that he was the leader of Team Skull, my image of him got tainted.

" _Zrrt! Either way, I don't think we'll have to worry about Team Skull._ "

"Why's that?" I was beginning to daze off, my mind shutting down due to not wanting to think about Guzma anymore. I couldn't waste anymore of my mental faculties on him. He was a bad guy, period. End of story. Instead, I tried to focus my attention on the dancing orange flames from the fire that flickered about wildly.

" _Because, zrrt! Mr. Guzma said you were hiz. And so he won't let Team Skull hurt you_ ," he said matter-of-factly. " _Zrrt! If you ask me, I'd say Mr. Guzma lovez you._ "

"Eww, Guzma does not love me, Rotom," I laughed. "That's impossible." I turned over on my side, closing my eyes.

" _Zrrt! Okay, sure Sun. But a pokémon'z intuition iz never wrong._ "

"Mm-hm," I muttered, trying to tune him out. Guzma was a bad guy and that translated to him being dangerous. Even if I had accepted his offer to be his, then I'd regret it down the line, without a doubt. New Team Rocket was a gang, and I almost died at the hands of one of their pokémon. Team Skull may not be as big as a threat as New Team Rocket, but they were still a threat, so why would I put my life on the line?

Guzma and I would never happen. I kept repeated that to myself as I slowly drifted off to sleep.

— — —

"…floooon."

"Eh?" I sleepily asked, rubbing my eyes and sitting up. My campfire had died down to resemble red lumps in the dirt. Growlithe was asleep next to me and Rotom had powered off. It was so dark outside that it was nearly impossible to see anything that wasn't directly near me.

"Flooon," came a soft voice from somewhere in the cemetery. It sounded light and airy, almost as if it were the wind trying to communicate with me. But because of the darkness, I wasn't able to see what was making the noise.

"Rowlet?" I asked, but there was no noise from him. Perhaps he was still asleep in the tree, but my eyes couldn't make out his shape. I gently shook Growlithe. "Hey Growlithe."

"Woof?" he sleepily asked, cracking open one eye to look at me, a little annoyed that I had woken him up this late.

"Hey can you relight the campfire?" I asked, trembling a little due to the nighttime cold and the eerie noise coming from within the cemetery.

Growlithe leaned over and shot a small fireball over to the branches, but because a majority of them were already charred up, the fire was significantly smaller than earlier and didn't cast as much light. But I was able to make out a small circle shape floating over closer to some of the tombstones.

"Floooon," it called in its airy voice.

"Is that a ghost pokémon?" I called out to the shape. I was in a cemetery after all. Where else would they hang out?

"Drifloon!" the shape cheered, sounding happy and excited. The shape seemed to jump up and down, remaining far away.

"Growlithe, c'mon! Let's go catch it!" I said, sliding out of my sleeping bag. I yanked a pokéball out from my backpack and slowly began my way over to the ghost-type pokémon.

"Growl…" Growlithe whimpered, shivering and shaking his head.

That was weird. "It's okay, Growlithe," I said. Perhaps he was scared of ghost-type pokémon. Everyone has their fears, I guess. I set out to catch the pokémon on my own, slowly inching my way closer to the tombstones, the pokémon becoming more and more visible the closer I got to it. It appeared to be a balloon that had two strings with small heart-shaped feet on the bottom.

The pokémon opened up its small, beady eyes at me. "Flooon," it called out in a low voice, its eyes shimmering a bit. The shimmering intensified and I found myself unable to look away from the phenomena. It was a strange feeling that I was experiencing as I stared into the pokémon's eyes. It seemed as if the background behind it was a kaleidoscope, and I was unable to focus on anything except for the ghost. My limbs had the pins and needles effect like when I used to fall asleep on my arm and it'd feel staticky when I woke up and rolled off it.

"Growl!"

I couldn't stop myself, I had to get closer. My limbs moved on their own accord and the pokémon began to move its string-like arms in a beckoning motion. "Floon," it said gently, luring me further into the cemetery. Its gaze was locked onto my face, refusing to let go of my attention that it completely dominated. The pokéball fell from my grasp and my arms were limp at my side.

" _Zrrt! Don't go near it, Sun!_ "

I felt all my previous worries disappear under the eye of the ghost. I struggled to remember what had happened back in Kanto and I found myself even unable to recreate Guzma's face in my mind. It was amazing, the numbing euphoria that the ghost was giving me. "Floon," it beckoned, almost within reach. Its black eyes held me captive, nothing else in the world seeming to matter at the moment.

"Hoot!"

" _Zrrt! He iz? Then go get him! Tell him Sun'z in danger! Oh wait, you can't speak human! I'll get him!_ "

"Flooon," the pokémon called, reaching out with one of its strings. The heart-shaped hand/foot on the end of it glowed, casting a radiant light that was so alluring that I just had to touch it. I slowly reached up, my arm weighing a ton. Very shakily, I managed to lift it up, my trembling hand getting closer to the ghost, its eyes burning into me as I did so.

"Sun? Sun! Don't touch it!"

My shaking hand was a mere couple of inches away and the pokémon's black eyes began to glow red. "Floon!" it yelled out, wrapping its string around my hand so tightly that it cut off the circulation and made it slowly turn purple. If I didn't feel all numb, I'm sure it would've been throbbing, but none of that mattered. My gaze stayed trapped on the glowing red eyes that pulled me in closer and made the kaleidoscope world grow dimmer and dimmer, my body feeling almost weightless.

"Ariados! Shadow sneak!"

"Floon!" the pokémon shrieked as a lump of darkness, just pure black darkness, slammed into us. The ghost released my arm, sending me crashing to the ground. Immediately the numbness left my body and I felt as if I were thrown into an ice chest, everything was so cold. I trembled and my hand throbbed in pain and as I clutched it to my chest, I noticed that my skin was extremely pale. I struggled to stay awake, the dimness from before still lingering a bit, but at least the world was no longer spinning.

The ghost-type pokémon fled, flying off into the cemetery, leaving a red bug-type pokémon in its wake.

"Wha—?" I struggled to ask what was going on, but my voice was gone, coming out in a cracked moan. My vision continued to fade and the coldness seemed to be consuming my body, so much that I hadn't even noticed that I was shaking so badly it looked as if I were convulsing on the ground.

"I got'cha," a deep voice said and I felt myself lifted off the ground.

And of course, thanks to my luck, that's when everything went black.


End file.
